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Extensive and Intensive Margins of Labour Supply: Working Hours in the US, UK and France

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  • Blundell, Richard

    (University College London)

  • Bozio, Antoine

    (Paris School of Economics)

  • Laroque, Guy

    (Sciences Po, Paris)

Abstract

This paper documents the key stylised facts underlying the evolution of labour supply at the extensive and intensive margins in the last forty years in three countries: United-States, United-Kingdom and France. We develop a statistical decomposition that provides bounds on changes at the extensive and intensive margins. This decomposition is also shown to be coherent with the analysis of labour supply elasticities at these margins. We use detailed representative micro-datasets to examine the relative importance of the extensive and intensive margins in explaining the overall changes in total hours worked.

Suggested Citation

  • Blundell, Richard & Bozio, Antoine & Laroque, Guy, 2011. "Extensive and Intensive Margins of Labour Supply: Working Hours in the US, UK and France," IZA Discussion Papers 6051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6051
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 28(Jul), pages 2-13.
    2. Rogerson, Richard & Wallenius, Johanna, 2009. "Micro and macro elasticities in a life cycle model with taxes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(6), pages 2277-2292, November.
    3. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    4. Emmanuel Saez, 2002. "Optimal Income Transfer Programs: Intensive versus Extensive Labor Supply Responses," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(3), pages 1039-1073.
    5. Gurgand, Marc & Margolis, David N., 2008. "Does work pay in France? Monetary incentives, hours constraints, and the guaranteed minimum income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1669-1697, July.
    6. Raj Chetty & Adam Guren & Day Manoli & Andrea Weber, 2011. "Are Micro and Macro Labor Supply Elasticities Consistent? A Review of Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 471-475, May.
    7. Jonathan Gruber & David A. Wise, 1999. "Social Security and Retirement around the World," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub99-1, May.
    8. Richard Blundell & Hilary W. Hoynes, 2004. "Has 'In-Work' Benefit Reform Helped the Labor Market?," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 411-460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Richard Blundell & Antoine Bozio & Guy Laroque, 2011. "Extensive and intensive margins of labour supply: working hours in the US, UK and France," IFS Working Papers W11/01, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Richard Blundell & Antoine Bozio & Guy Laroque, 2011. "Labor Supply and the Extensive Margin," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 482-486, May.
    11. Heckman, James J, 1993. "What Has Been Learned about Labor Supply in the Past Twenty Years?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 116-121, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    hours of work; employment; labor supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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